Monday, July 21, 2008

It Was A Hot and Steamy Night

 

I never forgot, all those years living away from Louisville, about the summer Catholic Festivals. They are the absolute best and more fun than one would think. First of all, there is the cake booth. How can it get any better than winning a delicious confection made by a church lady covered in colored coconut. Yum yum. And what if it cost $10 to finally win? It goes for a good cause. And it's tax deducible...maybe, that is if you do creative tax reporting. Next there is the beer booth. Thank God Almighty, because it was 96 degrees during the day and not much relief at night. The beer went down easy.

And last of all, the gambling. This is not your Grandmothers gambling of yesteryear. No longer are there long lean tables of bingo cards and hard corn markers scattered about under the glow of dangling yellow lights. No, now it is "Beat the Dealer" (which I kind of still do not understand) and it is a form of craps played with over sized dice that somehow are fixed in favor of the house! I played with $10 and it was up and down for about 45 minutes and I left with one measly dollar still in my hot hand.

Or not so hot hand

Truly amazing was the wheel that had different colored horses, 1 through 10, that you could bet on up to $1.00 by choosing the winning number horse. If per chance your horse came in, the odds were paid by the number designated by the lip thingee. (can you tell I am not a gambler?) much like baseball cards we once attached to our bicycle wheels to get that sweet summer sound.

It was very hot and we sweated a lot. After dropping a lot of money, drinking several beers, and not winning a cake we dragged our sorry selves back to the car and headed to a pizza joint.

Because we were hungry.

Every week end there is a similar summer festival. But, lurking somewhere in the not too far away future, in the month of August is the grand daddy of them all The St. Joseph Orphan's Picnic.

I'm saving up my money right now, because you never know, $10 chance could win you a Mustang.

Really.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

This made me smile... love the pictures.

Here is to you getting that Mustang... :)

~Jaime
www.ChaseNKids.com

Anonymous said...

Lovely pictures ~ Those festivals sound great I would love to go the the "St Joseph Orphans Picnic" and win that Mustang ~ but as I can't go I hope you win it :o) ~ Ally x

Anonymous said...

Oh, hot or not, this sounds like a fun and interesting outing.  Can't wait to hear if you win a mustang (or anything else) at St. Joseph's!

Anonymous said...

I am glad you and your family had a good time at the fund raising church casino.   Knowing it is for a good cause makes a difference even if the dice are loaded.    mark

Anonymous said...

I added a helpful comment to your previous entry about odometers.
LOIS

HERE'S SOMETHING THAT I LEARNED TO DO ... haven't had to do it recently, Thank God!  It is rather complitcated, but, not that difficult.  Hopefully, you have (for accuracy) somewhat of an idea of what your hit counter is.  GO TO THIS AOL HELP BLOG; COPY DOWN THE INSTRUCTIONS; IT DOES WORK!

http://journals.aol.com/journalseditor/magicsmoke/entries/2005/09/20/using-file-manager-to-fiddle-with-hit-counters/622

LOIS

Anonymous said...

I was raised a Baptist but I got over it.
Gambling and drinking at church functions, the Catholics got it goin on!
Marti

Anonymous said...

    We do do it in style, don't we? Ours is the St. Donatus Fest. That's coming up right now. Summer isn't summer without it.
Jude
http://journals.aol.com/jmorancoyle/MyWay